Why Probiotic Beauty Products Are Great For Your Skin

Thanks to all those yogurt commercials, you’re probably aware that probiotics are good for you. But you might not know that they also happen to be very good for your skin, too. “In my gastroenterology practice at NYU, I saw that when patients were taking probiotics for a variety of digestive health reasons, they saw changes in their skin as well,” says Dr. Roshini Raj, Associate Professor of Medicine at the NYU School of Medicine. “It was a rare aha moment. About four years ago we started seeing robust research on probiotics and overall skin health. It was such an exciting discovery and a revolutionary change in the way we are treating our skin.” That’s why Dr. Raj co-founded Tula, a probiotic skincare line that she helped develop. Appropriately, “Tula” means “balance” in Sanskrit. “It’s the perfect name because we are all about helping people achieve balance in skincare and an overall healthy lifestyle,” she says. “We are approaching beauty from a different perspective. As a gastroenterologist, I know how important internal health is for skin health.”

In case you’re a little fuzzy on the topic, probiotics are microorganisms that deliver health benefits when consumed or, in the case of beauty, applied topically on the skin. “Breathtaking science is emerging showing how the gut, brain and skin are connected with microbiome, which support our health and share a mutually beneficial relationship with our bodies,” says NYC Dermatologist Dr. Whitney Bowe, author of The Beauty of Dirty Skin. “When you apply probiotics topically, they act as a physical shield like a barrier, blocking harmful microbes from causing inflammation or infection. People who struggle with acne or rosacea, their immune systems recognize certain microscopic organisms as being foreign invaders and their bodies mount an immune reaction, but if you have probiotics on your skin, then the probiotics protect you from those triggers. Applying probiotics topically also produces antimicrobial peptides, which act like natural antibiotics that kill off harmful bugs—we’re especially exposed to those during winter.”

That’s not all applying probiotics topically can do for your skin. They can also soothe inflammation, guard against oxidative stress and free radicals, and protect your skin from the dangers and anti-aging effects of pollution, including fine lines and dark spots. “There are actually specific probiotics strains that have been shown to promote ceramide production, which are healthy lipids naturally found in skin that trap moisture and strengthens the skin barrier,” Dr. Bowe says. “There is a lot of science emerging that certain strains taken orally and applied topically can hydrate the skin.”

It’s long been known that what you eat can affect your skin, and that’s especially true for probiotics. “In the digestive tract, you have a lining to your gut and if you don’t have healthy bacteria, the lining becomes more porous, so toxins can leak through and trigger inflammation,” explains Dr. Raj. “Overall, having a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut has an anti-inflammatory effect on your entire body, including your skin.” Get a healthier balance in your gut by loading up on probiotics, including yogurt, tempeh, miso, kombucha, fermented veggies like kimchi and sauerkraut, and kefir. “Kefir is a yogurt-like drink that’s been around for centuries and originated in Eastern Europe,” Dr. Raj says. “Kefir is probiotics on steroids. It’s known for its plentiful diversity of bacteria, with six or seven different strains of probiotics. In Eastern Europe and Russia, it was sometimes applied to the face.” Kefir is the spotlight hero ingredient in Tula’s latest launches. “It’s sort of what’s old is new again,” says Julia Straus, CEO of Tula. “For us it’s been exciting to have a form of probiotics that ties to the nutrition world—there’s a huge awareness around kefir. We are the first ones to bring it to life and use kefir in a topical line.”

Not all probiotics are created equal, and having a variety of strains is key to getting the most bang for your buck. “When you buy a container of yogurt and it says ‘live active cultures,’ you don’t know how many are in that container,” Dr. Bowe says. “The larger companies are usually held to a higher standard by the FDA. You can get a yogurt with lots of healthy probiotics, but if it’s loaded with sugar, those are terrible for your microbiome, so you sort of negate the benefits. It’s about not only getting enough of a dose but enough diversity and variety of strains—that is key with probiotics. Like a rainforest, the more plants in the rainforest, the healthier the forest.”

Supplements are another way to get your daily dose of probiotics, and Tula just launched one, the Daily Probiotic & Skin Health Complex. “It’s meant to be a daily probiotic not only for digestive health needs but beauty needs as well, which is very new,” says Dr. Raj. “It contains probiotics of course, but also ceramides, Vitamin C, antioxidants, and other anti-aging ingredients. We think it’s a revolution in the supplement world because it’s addressing beauty, digestive health and overall health.” Since supplements aren’t regulated by the FDA, it can be tricky to know what you’re getting. “There’s not a lot of visibility or regulations on how supplements are created,” Straus says. “It literally took us two years to make this product. We used clinically tested ingredients that made us feel really confident to put forth something that would make a difference in gut and skin health.” No matter how you get your probiotics, your skin—and your gut—will thank you.

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